OK I am sure this is a common problem but would be interesting to see what strategies people use.
Issue - When a user creates an account or profile (or something similar) on your site, like most sites you will sk them to verify their account by clicking a link in an email you send them.
Now... I have a couple of problems with one of my sites. The first is email services like hotmail and yahoo dont pass on our email to the mailboxes. The users simply NEVER get the email to verify. I know it works I have tested on my own POP email etc...
Thats a massive issue as running an online game, a lot of people prefer to use a free web based email service to protect their usual e-mail account. I am sure a lot of people do this.
That's the first issue...
The second issue is when people don't verify their accounts at all.
We monitor signups and have daily stats so we can see how effective we are at converting signups into verified accounts etc.
To combat the first issue we have dissallowed people to create accounts using a hotmail/yahoo email basically forcing them to use an ISP or other email which they should receive our email on.
Even that in itself has made our signups drop SIGNIFICNTLY. I can understand why.... my question is how can we get hotmail/yahoo to receive our emails!!?? I have even tried manually using a similar script which sends out our verification email and hotmail doesnt send it through at all. I have tried playing with from emails, reply-tos etc etc
The second issue is a matter of how well we can convert signups into verified accounts but my question is... why would someone will in a pretty comprehensive form and then not verify their account?
As an example the stats for the last 24 hours are as follows:
Total signups = 21
Verified = 5
Conversion = 24%
Those figures were a lot higher before we dissallowed hotmail/yahoo. We were getting more like 80-100 (or more) signups a day but had a similar conversion rate (around 30% is average).
Why would people bother filling out a quite elaborate form to signup and then not verify? The email they receive is VERY user friendly, has instructions on how to verify etc etc
Does anyone else have this issue? Any ideas? Solutions?
I would love to hear about other experiences!!
I just checked my hotmail account and very strange the confirmation emails have appeared. I mean that took over a day for Hotmail to delivery the emails!!! By that time the user would probably have lost interest in activating their account.
Issue - When a user creates an account or profile (or something similar) on your site, like most sites you will sk them to verify their account by clicking a link in an email you send them.
Now... I have a couple of problems with one of my sites. The first is email services like hotmail and yahoo dont pass on our email to the mailboxes. The users simply NEVER get the email to verify. I know it works I have tested on my own POP email etc...
Thats a massive issue as running an online game, a lot of people prefer to use a free web based email service to protect their usual e-mail account. I am sure a lot of people do this.
That's the first issue...
The second issue is when people don't verify their accounts at all.
We monitor signups and have daily stats so we can see how effective we are at converting signups into verified accounts etc.
To combat the first issue we have dissallowed people to create accounts using a hotmail/yahoo email basically forcing them to use an ISP or other email which they should receive our email on.
Even that in itself has made our signups drop SIGNIFICNTLY. I can understand why.... my question is how can we get hotmail/yahoo to receive our emails!!?? I have even tried manually using a similar script which sends out our verification email and hotmail doesnt send it through at all. I have tried playing with from emails, reply-tos etc etc
The second issue is a matter of how well we can convert signups into verified accounts but my question is... why would someone will in a pretty comprehensive form and then not verify their account?
As an example the stats for the last 24 hours are as follows:
Total signups = 21
Verified = 5
Conversion = 24%
Those figures were a lot higher before we dissallowed hotmail/yahoo. We were getting more like 80-100 (or more) signups a day but had a similar conversion rate (around 30% is average).
Why would people bother filling out a quite elaborate form to signup and then not verify? The email they receive is VERY user friendly, has instructions on how to verify etc etc
Does anyone else have this issue? Any ideas? Solutions?
I would love to hear about other experiences!!
I just checked my hotmail account and very strange the confirmation emails have appeared. I mean that took over a day for Hotmail to delivery the emails!!! By that time the user would probably have lost interest in activating their account.
